Batou, like the major, is a nearly full-body cyborg with the most notable attributes being his cybernetic optical implants and his prodigious strength. No matter whether he is viewed on TV, Film, or in the manga, Batou looks like a big bruiser out of an old boxing movie with his wide bent nose, the bluff visage, and the massive, but muscular frame. But his reports are filled with unsolicited opinions, which may have held him back from promotion. He’s gruff and irascible and yet he has a big heart and a lot of love for his comrades-at-arms, even if most of that sentiment is hidden behind sarcasm, casual insults, and candor but, definitely has a thing for Major Kusanagi. It's sort of all right for your friends to know about your crush on your commander, but not so much if your enemy knows and tries to use that knowledge against you. He doesn’t often think before he says things to his colleagues at Section 9, because he goes with his gut reaction – it’s easy for him to do, he’s a big guy and he has the commensurate military training. Kusanagi has hunches, i.e ‘things her Ghost tells her,’ but she’s the squad leader, she has to think beyond the moment. And as a female, she has to be better than the men around her. Of course, Section 9 thinks Batou’s a show-off. He also has this thing with weight lighting and exercise, although his body doesn’t require it. He smokes. He drinks. He likes to take the big leaps from buildings and drives the flashiest of cars. But, he is well-respected by the Major, the Chief, and his comrades-at-arms. He’s the one who Kusanagi picks most often for back up. He’s the one usually stuck with looking out for the relative rookie, Togusa. But he can also do the detective work and goes undercover when the military is concerned as in XXX, when he had to learn if his Olympic boxing hero was stealing secrets from the Maritime Self-Defense Force. It hurt him to see this man he had long admired turn into a criminal and abandon his marriage with a kind-hearted woman. He’s the tenderhearted type when you cut through all the cybernetics and prosthetic muscles. He likes and admires Kusanagi, possibly loves; but he certainly puts himself at risk to keep her safe. Batou has a dark history with the military. Before he came to Section 9, he was in the Rangers and spent time in the jungles of South America, which is where he encountered the rouge agent, Marco Amoretti, a soldier turned into a trained killer for the American Empire. Marco skinned women and children alive in Project Sunset to demoralize the enemy of the American Empire during the last World War.